Tennis Rhythm
by aikoflutist247
Summary: A new bouncy girl has joined the massive students of Seishun Gakuen Academy. It seems she has met Ryoma before - but he barely remembers her! She WAS the Princess of Tennis! What's this - she has quit tennis? She's lost her tennis rhythm. RyomaxOC HIATUS
1. Recalling A Match

**Summary:** A new bouncy girl has joined the massive students of Seishun Gakuen Academy.It seems she has met Ryoma before - but he barely remembers her! How will this affect their relationship with each other? Will this effect the girl? What's this? She has quit tennis? She was the Princess of Tennis, though! It looks like she has lost her tennis rhythm.

**Genres:** Romance/Friendship/Family/Suspence/Drama

**Notes:** The poll for this story is still running on my account page for the lover of this story. So far, I have Fuji in the lead but I still need more votes! It's between Fuji, Ryoma, and Eiji. Please vote! Polls end at Chapter 3!!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Prince of Tennis (Tennis no Ojisama) or any of its characters - all belong to Takeshi Konomi.

**Claimer:** I own Tennis Rhythm and its plot, also its characters that are not in the original Prince of Tennis (ex. Akita Ami).

* * *

**Tennis Rhythm**_**  
Chapter One**_  
**Recalling a Match**

* * *

_Another junior tennis tournament in America was ready to begin as the fans started to file in, filling up the bleachers of the huge stadium. Today would hold exciting matches, one in particular._

_One of the many participants stood outside the stadium, his white filla cap upon his head was his only shield from the blazing sun up above as he drank from his soda can._

_An air of arrogance was his atmosphere as he stood there with his scratch-less racket tucked under his arm, drinking his Ponta drink. Taking in one last gulp, hazel eyes revealed themselves as the young tennis player acknowledged the heat sticking to his skin, "It's hot." _

"_Wait no!"_

_Hazel eyes swerved to a child, a girl his age, grab onto another boy's sleeve. The boy looked back at the pleading girl, his dark eyes showing no hint of pity. "Let go," he growled at her._

"_Where are you going? You can't leave me!" She cried, tears glistening in her grassy green eyes, her black-rimmed racket held loosely in her hand._

"_We had fun, didn't we? That's good enough!" He shouted at her. The girl's long raven hair shook left to right as droplets of her streaming tears fell to the pavement, her left hand still gripping desperately on his sleeve with his back facing her. He stared at her with cold, piercing eyes before grabbing the sobbing girl's wrist and removing it from his clothing, "I never said that I _**loved **_you."_

_The tennis participant watched as the raven-haired girl cried after the boy who walked away from her, never looking back. Green eyes turned and connected with hazel. He took notice of her tennis attire and her high pony-tailed hair held up by a red visor. Noticing that someone had witnessed her in such a weakened state, the girl ran back toward the stadium, pushing past people as boundless tears flowed down her cheeks._

* * *

"Echizen."

"Echizen!"

Ryoma awoke with a start, raising his head and lifting himself out of his dreams. He looked around at his surroundings and found that he was only in his class. The dark-haired boy faced forward to find that his English teacher was glaring at him.

"Echizen, now that you've awoken from your slumber," a few snickers were heard around the class, "would you please write on the board what you wrote for last night's homework?"

"Sure." Classmates snickered more as the boy didn't even bother to hide away his yawn, which seemed to aggravate the teacher even more, as Ryoma sauntered up to the chalk board. With his homework in one hand, he took a piece of chalk and begun to write on the board. Within three minutes of silence, Ryoma had written three complete paragraphs on the board. Turning around, he faced his English teacher and asked, "Is this acceptable?"

The teacher, stunned at the boy's handwriting that took up the entire chalkboard, merely nodded before saying, "Y-yes, you may go back to your seat now."

Girls around him sighed in admiration as Ryoma took his seat, resting his head on his propped up hand. Thoughts of his dream that he had only moments ago flashed back into his mind. "_Why am I thinking about her all of a sudden?"_ He drifted into his memories, clearly ignoring what the teacher was saying.

* * *

"_The match between the Prodigy and the Princess has finally arrived! We all can't wait to see what this match has in stored for us."_

_Ryoma walked up the stairs and heard cheering as he stepped onto the tennis courts. He ignored the growing crowd in the bleachers as he pulled down on his hat, placing his stuff on his bench. The boy looked to his left toward the other bench and saw the same girl from earlier on that day sitting upon it; in her lap was a small teddy bear. Ryoma would normally roll his eyes at the childish action if he hadn't witnessed the events that only happened an hour ago. From his distance from the girl, he only saw that she stared at the teddy bear with a sullen expression._

"_Players, please come onto the court," the umpire bellowed._

_Before obeying the order, Ryoma took notice of the blue-rimmed racket that she had taken out of her tennis bag, the black-colored racket she had earlier safely tucked away in her bag. Walking to his side of the net, he watched as she took her time in walking toward the net, her bangs from under the visor concealing her emerald eyes._

_When she finally reached the net, she looked up at him with a forced smile, "Hi there, Echizen-san! I'm Ami, nice to meet you!" Her eyes were closed as she outstretched her hand to the boy. She knew that eyes could not lie._

_He stared at her hand before grasping it lightly, shaking it up and down. A few moments had passed and Ryoma still had her tender hand in his; she still had on that forced smile with eyes closed as she waited for him to release her hand. _

"_Same," he finally replied, letting go of the hand-contact. He made the racket stand upright on the floor and asked, "Rough or smooth?"_

"_Smooth, please."_

_Spinning the racket, the 'R' engraved on the bottom of the handle landed upside down. "I'll serve first."_

* * *

"Echizen?"

Ryoma was once again snapped out of his thoughts as he felt someone shaking his shoulder. He turned his head around to find that his friends - Horio, Kachiro, and Katsuo - were waiting for him.

"Come on, Ryoma-kun; it's lunch time," Kachiro told his friend, his backpack already slung upon his shoulder.

Ryoma reached for his tennis bag and lugged it over his shoulder, standing up in the process and following his friends out of the classroom. "You okay, Ryoma-kun? You're spacing out than the usual dozing off." Katsuo wondered, looking at his friend with concern.

"It's nothing," Ryoma told the first year as the four walked through the halls.

As usual, the first year girls that were present in the halls looked over at the freshmen regular and squealed in excitement as they swooned over Ryoma's presence passing by them. Ryoma, having no interest in the girls staring at him, didn't even spare them glances as he walked by each and every one of them. A few minutes of walking through the halls, Ryoma finally reached his destination: the cafeteria. His chattering friends behind him, he led them to the lunch line.

Once the first-years had gotten through the line, picked their lunch, and paid for their food - since none of them brought their own bento that day - they all found an empty table and sat down. Immediately, Horio started talking animatedly as the other three freshmen ate their lunch, two of them listening politely.

"Hey, Echizen!" A loud voice was heard.

Horio ceased his voice and turned around in his seat to find that their second-year regular friend stood tall behind him. "Momochan-senpai!"

"Yo!" Momoshiro greeted, taking a seat across from Ryoma, placing his food that he had bought from the canteen.

"Momochan-senpai," Kachiro called out to the taller regular, "something's wrong with Ryoma-kun! He's been spacing out lately." Momoshiro looked across from him to Ryoma and found that the younger boy was staring at his food that was being held between the two chopsticks in his hand.

* * *

_It was an intense match; Prodigy against Princess._

_Even though Ryoma had witnessed some heart-crushing events for the girl earlier, it seemed to have affected her a bit considering she was making unforced errors in her play. He had heard many rumors about this girl, but it didn't seem to be true._

_She had another fault._

_An annoyed expression overtook her face as she stomped her foot in anger._

_Ryoma did not like where this match was going and the girl could tell._

_Echizen Ryoma anticipated for his opponent's serve as he stood at the base line, feet planted on the ground. He watched as the girl stared back at him, a tennis ball in her left and her racket in her right. The second time for that day, hazel connected with cerulean. For a split-second, Ryoma saw something in her eyes; her grassy eyes reflected and it almost looked as if she were pleading to him. _

_At last, she threw the ball up into the air and brought her racket up._

_Ryoma readied his own racket in his right hand, intensely watching the lime green ball._

_Once the ball had reached a certain height, with extreme force, the girl smacked the ball down._

_Nanoseconds later, Ryoma stood up straight - the tennis ball had hit the net. Double fault._

"_I concede the game."_

_Gasps filled the stadium as the fans saw the Princess walk up toward the net. Ryoma's expression was unreadable as he, too, strolled to the net. The audience, including the umpire, sat in their seats in silence as they watched the two opponents walk toward one another to the net. Once they met, Ami outstretched her hand to him with the same green eyes staring at him, a tiny smile on her pretty face._

_Ryoma looked to her with the same passive expression and asked, "Why?"_

_Her smile faltered as her extended hand went limp. "I love tennis, and I know you saw what happened earlier to me." She looked down toward the ground, trying to hide the tears that started to form at the corner of her eyes. "You didn't use that knowledge to your advantage toward me and I appreciate that." Ryoma heard her take a long sigh before she looked back at him, "So, I don't want to play against you with these feelings harboring in my heart." As she started walking toward her bench, she stopped and looked at the perplexed boy, "We'll have another _serious_ match next time; that's a promise." And with that, she sauntered up to her bench and stuffed her racket in her bag. _

"_Miss Akita has resigned from the game. Mr. Echizen has won the match by default." The umpire announced as few claps were heard throughout the audience, but the majority of the crowd was in shock._

_Echizen Ryoma could only watch as 'Miss Akita' exited the courts._

* * *

"He's probably thinking about a _girl_," Momoshiro declared with a sly grin.

Ryoma snapped his head at Momo's assumption, "Momo-senpai? When did you get here?"

The second year laughed at his friend, "I've _been_ here!"

"See, Momochan-senpai? Echizen's spacing out even during lunch!" Horio exclaimed, flailing his arms frantically to express his concern for his friend.

Ryoma stared at his terrified friend, "I was not spacing out."

"Sure you weren't," Momoshiro responded, that sly grin still on his face. He turned to Ryoma's friends and whispered to them loudly, "I still think he was thinking about a girl."

* * *

The final bell rung and all the students in the building scrambled out of their seats, exiting out of their classrooms to escape the confinements of education. Some stayed for the after-school activities; one of the clubs that stayed was the boy's tennis team. The regulars of the team met in the locker room, all having their own conversations between one another as they changed into their tennis attires for their practice.

"Did you hear, Eiji?" Fuji asked his red-headed hyper friend.

"Hear what?"

"We're going to have a new student in our science class starting tomorrow," Fuji replied, his usual smile plastered upon his features.

"Ehh? When did the teacher announce that?"

"I think it was when you decided to fall asleep on your textbook," he answered with a grin.

"You're having a new student, senpai?" Momoshiro asked, appearing behind them; apparently, he was ready to leave. "What a coincidence; I'm having a new student in my history class."

"Ah, you too, Momo-senpai?" Ryoma asked as he approached the older person, his red racket resting on his shoulder.

Momoshiro looked down at his friend, "You're getting a new student, Echizen?" The prodigy nodded his head at him and Momoshiro smacked his head lightly, "Wow, this really is a coincidence."

"Several students will be joining Seigaku tomorrow," Oishi concluded as he tied his shoelaces. "Well, let's stop worrying about it. It's time for practice - Tezuka is waiting."

"Hai."

* * *

The huge clock tower of the city struck five in the late afternoon when a young girl walked through the gates of Seishun Gakuen Academy.

Barely touching her shoulders, her dark hair held up in two side pigtails swayed with the breeze as she strolled merrily down the pathway leading to the school, her sundress flowing with the wind. She had a sunhat tilted slightly on her head while a small handbag was strapped over her shoulder, an excited smile was showed on her face as she looked up at the school with big jade eyes. She halted to take one look at the school in front of her.

Not far off, Seigaku's tennis club for boys had just finished their practice and the regulars were already walking out.

"Lucky! Practice ended early today!" The redheaded Eiji Kikumaru grinned in joy.

His best friend, Fuji Shusuke, chuckled at his friend's antics, his tennis bag slung over his own shoulder, "Probably because our season doesn't fully start till next month."

"Hey Echizen, want to get some burgers?" Momoshiro offered to his kouhai.

"Eh? You're going out to eat? Me too! Me too!" Eiji exclaimed, jumping behind Momoshiro.

Ryoma smirked under his hat, "Senpai's treat."

Quickly responding, Momoshiro instantly said, "Eiji-senpai's paying!"

Eiji pouted and started to whine, "Eh? You guys are going to make me broke!" Walking behind the others, Eiji reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He opened it and anime tears started to fall while Momoshiro and Ryoma continued to grin away like nothing.

That's when the four boys heard a female voice, "Sugoi! This school is huge!"

Looking forward, they found a young girl staring up at the school with wide eyes. Eiji was first to react, "Hm? Who's that? I've never seen her before."

"She's probably one of the new students," Ryoma assumed.

Momoshiro started to grin like a maniac and started to run off, "Let's go meet her!" Immediately, the black haired spiked up boy was at the girl's side and introducing himself, "Hello there! I'm Momoshiro Takeshi, but you can call me Momo-chan - second year. Welcome to Seishun Gakuen Academy! Are you new here?"

Before anything, the young girl immediately bowed toward the taller boy and replied, "My name is Akita Ami, Momochan-senpai. I'm transferring to Seigaku as a first year so yes, I'm new here." She introduced herself before straightening her composure. Then, like a child, she innocently stuck out her tongue in embarrassment and asked, "Can you help me? I'm a bit lost."

"Sure!" Momoshiro replied, "Where do you need to go?"

"Momo!" Eiji jumped behind Momoshiro's back for the second time that day and had a grin plastered on his face, "Who's the cute girl?"

"This is --" Momoshiro started but was effectively cut off by the young girl again bowing and introducing herself.

"My name is Akita Ami. Nice to meet you!" She hopped up in delight and a playful smile overtook her features.

"Kawaii!" Eiji shouted in glee, causing Ami to smile back at him, before he replied, "Eiji Kikumaru, at your service!"

Eiji and Momoshiro stood on either side of one another in front of Ami when Fuji and Ryoma walked by their sides. "Hello!" Ami exclaimed, and bowed once again, "First year, Akita Ami in the flesh!"

Ryoma raised an eyebrow at the mention of her name but before he could really ponder about it, Fuji went onto introducing himself. "Hello there, Akita-san. My name is Fuji Shusuke," the brunette replied, smiling down at the shorter girl with closed eyes.

Ami smiled up at the tensai before turning to the last person. When it seemed she was about to bow, her eyes widened ever so slightly at the sight of the boy. Ryoma only stared at her when suddenly, her smile widened into a grin and she had ran toward him, wrapping her arms around his neck into a tight hug. "It's you!"

Ryoma's eyes widened at the sudden contact and stood, stiff still, as the girl continued to hug him. The other three boys raised an eyebrow at them, Eiji asking, "You know her, o'chibi?"

"Oo! Secret girlfriend, eh?" Momoshiro slyly said to them, a smirk forming on his face.

"Eh?" Eiji exclaimed, "You had a girlfriend all this time, o'chibi??"

An anime sweat drop formed at the side of Ryoma's forehead when finally, Ami released the hug, "It's been awhile, huh Echizen-san?"

Momoshiro raised an eyebrow, "Echizen-san?"

"Aw, couples don't name each other with such formalities," Eiji stated with a pout.

Ryoma gazed at Ami with confused eyes. Then his next spoken words caused the other three boys to be possibly even more confused, "Do I know you?"

* * *

**Explanations:**  
I know "Princess" or "Princess of Tennis" sounds Mary-sue like, and I apologize for that. I could not come up with a more realistic name and I thought, "Lady" or something along those names sounded a bit strange. So, please bear with that nickname - there will be a reason later on in the story for it. Yes, this OC - Akita Ami - is from my oneshots with Fuji but those stories does not tie in with this one, sorry. So, I apologize if you think this OC might end up with Fuji - you need to vote on my poll on my account page to know who Akita Ami ends up with.

**Clues:**  
1) In Ryoma's dream or daydreams, Ami had long hair. In the present, she now has shorter hair.  
2) When playing against Ami, Ryoma was playing with his _right_ hand instead of his left.  
3) Ryoma was not using his one-split step.  
4) Ami was about to use her black racket, but instead used her blue racket.  
5) All the tennis regulars are having a new student.

So, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review and tell me what you think. Please **VOTE**! You want Akita Ami to end up with the arrogant Echizen Ryoma? Tensai Fuji Shusuke? Or lovable Eiji Kikumaru? Tell me now!


	2. Mysteries

**Summary:** A new bouncy girl has joined the massive students of Seishun Gakuen Academy.It seems she has met Ryoma before - but he barely remembers her! How will this affect their relationship with each other? Will this effect the girl? What's this? She has quit tennis? She was the Princess of Tennis, though! It looks like she has lost her tennis rhythm.

**Genres:** Romance/Friendship/Family/Suspense/Drama

**Notes:** The poll for this story is still running on my account page for the lover of this story. It's between Fuji, Ryoma, and Eiji. Please vote! Polls end at Chapter 3!!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Prince of Tennis (Tennis no Ojisama) or any of its characters - all belong to Takeshi Konomi.

**Claimer:** I own Tennis Rhythm and its plot, also its characters that are not in the original Prince of Tennis (ex. Akita Ami).

* * *

**Tennis Rhythm**_**  
Chapter Two  
**_**Mysteries**

* * *

"I thought you knew her, o'chibi," Eiji said, confused by Ryoma's response to the girl's hug. "She knows _you_…"

The boys anticipated for the shorter girl's reaction.

First she blinked once.

She blinked again.

A few moments later, the young girl burst out into a laughing fit.

Holding her sides to keep from falling over, she spoke in between laughs, "Echizen-san, I should've known you wouldn't have recognized me." As her laughter died down, she continued, "I guess short hair can change a person's difference; maybe clothing attires too." She twirled a bit and looked down at her sundress before turning her attention back to Ryoma who still had a confused expression. Ami sighed while reaching into the handbag hanging at her side, pulling out a wallet. She looked through the pockets before taking out a photo and showing it to Ryoma, "I think this picture shows who I was back then."

The three taller boys crowded around Ryoma to see the photo; it was of Ryoma and Ami, but she had longer hair. The pair was shaking hands and Ami had her eyes closed with a smile, Ryoma still wearing the same passive expression. The boys took notice of the background in the picture: the two were at a tennis tournament.

"This was taken at the junior tennis tournament in America, Echizen-san. Remember now?" As they studied the photograph, Ami put a finger to her chin in thought, "Although, maybe the reason you don't exactly recognize me is that my voice has a different tone when I speak Japanese."

"You speak English, Akita?" Momoshiro asked, his eyes peeking with wonder.

"Just a little more than the average Japanese person."

Eiji looked from the photo to the girl holding it; the photo and back. Finally, he concluded, "You look cuter than in this photo, Ami-chan."

"Why thank you, Eiji-san," the raven-haired girl responded, giving the redhead a toothy smile before putting the photo back into her bag. _"Do you recognize my voice, Echizen-san?"_

Ryoma blinked once before replying in English, _"It rings a bell in my mind."_

"No speaking English!" Eiji cried, pleading while waving his arms spontaneously.

"What's wrong, Eiji-senpai? You can't understand?" Momoshiro inquired to his senpai. The redhead meekly shook his head. Momoshiro started hysterically laughing, almost falling over.

Eiji puffed out his cheeks in annoyance, "It's not like Momo understands!" With that being said, Momoshiro's laughter turned into anxious chuckles, a sweat drop forming at the side of his head while he rubbed the back of his neck; this caused Ami to giggle at the older boys.

Fuji smiled at the events before him - Momoshiro and Eiji were usually like this. Suddenly, a sparkle appeared at the corner of his eye. Turning his attention toward Ami, he stared down at the object on her finger. "That's a lovely ring you have there, Akita-san."

The males turned their heads to Ami who raised her left hand, a small diamond ring on her ring finger. "Hm, just a piece of jewelry I have to wear."

Ryoma raised an eyebrow, "Why?"

"Traditions." Ami's forlorn eyes stared hard at the diamond before letting her hand drop and looking up at the boys with a cheery facial expression. "Which reminds me, Echizen-san; I can't keep our promise."

Momoshiro, confused, asked Ami, "What promise?"

"The promise I made with him the day of the tennis tournament. I had quit our game and I promised him that we would have a rematch. But, I can't keep it, Echizen-san," she answers, bowing in apology to the freshmen regular.

Ryoma continued to stare at her in question, "Why can't you keep it?"

"Because I quit tennis," she answered straightforwardly.

"Why?" Eiji exclaimed with wide eyes, wondering why anyone would quit a wonderful sport like tennis.

Ami gave a long sigh, "My family, especially my mother, disapproves of court games, like tennis."

"Your father as well?" Fuji asked.

Ami shook her head. "He's the reason why my mother disapproves - he left us and he loved tennis." It was silent after that. The guys didn't want to say something that would cause the young girl to start crying. The raven haired girl looked up at them with a small smile, and said in a light tone, "So, are any of you too busy to give a tour to your new student?"

Eiji turned his head to his friends with an eager grin, "Nope. Right, guys?" Not even waiting for their responses, the acrobatic tennis player had Ami's hand in his and was rushing her toward the school building, Ami laughing while trying to catch up with the hyper boy. Fuji chuckled lightheartedly and followed soon after, walking.

Ryoma stared after the three ahead of him and did the same as Fuji with a submissive expression. Momoshiro's face dropped as his stomach gave a loud growl. He rubbed his poor stomach as he heard Ryoma call after him, "Hurry up, Momo-senpai!" Momoshiro, crestfallen, reluctantly trudged behind the others.

* * *

"That's the cafeteria; students can either eat here or they can, if the teachers allow them to, eat in the classrooms with your own bentos or food from the canteen."

"The canteen is right over there."

"That's the gym."

"There's the attendance office, and right next to it is the principal's office."

"That's the teacher lounge."

"Why would she need to know that?"

"Just in case, you never know."

"Over there is the Student Council room, where they have all their meetings."

"And here's the bulletin of what is going on around the school," Eiji announces, stopping in front of a corkboard hung on the wall. Different colored papers were pinned onto it that advertised for different clubs within the school and what events were occurring on the school.

Ami stared up at the bulletin board when a pink piece of paper caught her eye, "Oh, you guys have a dancing club here?"

"Yes we do; they haven't won any medals but they're getting there," Fuji informed the young girl.

"Why? Do you want to join, Akita?" Momoshiro asked, grabbing a flyer from the board.

Ami waited for the piece of paper to be in her hands, her face showing keenness, "I like it. My family would want me to join." Ryoma watched the girl in front of him scan over the flyer before stuffing it into her bag, his passive expression still intact but his brain going on.

"Akita-san, have you received your timetable?" The new student nodded her head, reached into her bag, pulling out a small card that told her all her classes for the school year, and gave it to Fuji. The brunette looked over the card before his eyebrows rose up in puzzlement.

"What's wrong, Fujiko?"

"Akita-san," he started, "this timetable must be an error. Because of our school system, there's no possibility that you would have some of these upperclassmen classes."

Now it was Eiji and Momoshiro's turn to be confused, "What are you talking about, Fuji-senpai?" The junior regular peeked over at the schedule and he arched an eyebrow, "Why do you have my history class, Akita?"

"Eh? Akita-chan has history with Momo?" Eiji tilted his head in misunderstanding and wondered aloud, "I thought elective classes only held different age groups."

"They are, Eiji-senpai," Ryoma finally said, taking part in the discussion. He walked over by Fuji's other side and looked up at the timetable. "You have my English class."

"This is strange." Momoshiro concluded, "Your timetable has classes from all grades here. English, Social Science, Geometry, and Biology. Why do you have mostly advanced classes, Akita?"

Embarrassed, Ami told them in a small voice, "My family is the one that requested them. I was only able to choose my electives."

"Which is Art and Band?" Fuji inquired, showing her the timetable.

Ami nodded at him, continuing, "I don't know exactly how the system works here, but in America, we were able to do this. So, in a way, my family demanded that I had these classes. English is not my strong point though, so yeah," she tried to humor the boys, sticking out her tongue bashfully.

"And you can do all these advanced classes while understanding the material?"

"Well, I can get by." She grinned at them innocently, taking her timetable back and putting it in her bag.

Noticing another silence stirring up, Fuji says to Ami, "You must really love music, Akita-san, since you have Band class and you want to join the Dance club."

Ami looks toward the bulletin board, looking at all the flyers involving music, a gentle smile forming upon her lips, "I just love music. I always find new rhythms."

"Rhythms?" The guys asked her. They all watched as Ami's emerald eyes glinted in content as she continued to smile.

"I've noticed that some sort of rhythm overtakes me as I go through different events of my life. And sometimes, those rhythms, I'm playing them in my music classes." Ami closed her eyes, and Ryoma saw the way her smile lowered ever so slightly as her head drooped down, almost as if she were praying. Before he knew it, she had picked up her head and looked up at all of them, "Anyway, enough chit-chat about that; do you guys have an executive producer in your Student Council?"

"An executive producer? Isn't that only for films and entertainment stuff?" Eiji asked, tilting his head at the girl, wondering why someone ask that at a school.

"Doesn't have to be," Ami countered with a grin, placing her hands on her hips in a defiant manner.

Fuji smiled at the girl's comeback and responds, "No, I don't think we have one."

Ryoma leaned against the nearby wall, retorting to the girl, "Because we don't need one."

Hearing that comment clearly, Ami walked up to the boy and poked him hard in the stomach, "Well, look out Seigaku, you're going to have your _**first**_ Executive Producer!"

As Ryoma rubbed his poor stomach, everyone heard an up-beat tune playing. Ami widened her eyes and rummaged through her bag until she brought out her cell that was blinking colorful lights. She flipped open her phone and greeted the caller, "Hello Mother."

Ryoma, as well as the others, all arched their eyebrows at the way Ami had addressed her mother, even with the playful tone. Expressing such formalities with parents showed a glimpse of how Ami was raised up. Awhile ago, Ami had just poked Ryoma in the stomach which displayed how immature she was, but now, the way she was talking with one of her parents showed how much respect she had for her mother.

"I'm here at school. Some gentlemen - that happened to still be here - offered to give me a tour of Seigaku." A few more pauses, and she continued, "Oh! That was today? Forgive me, Mother. I'll be home." Another pause, "No, that won't be necessary; I can walk." Taking the phone away from her ear and glancing at the clock, she spoke again into the receiver, "I have time, Mother. Seishun Academy is not a long distance from our household."

"Ne, Fujiko, why is Akita-chan talking formal-like all of a sudden?" Eiji asks, putting a hand on Fuji's shoulder to get his attention.

Fuji merely furrowed his eyebrows in thought; he didn't know why she was behaving like this either. But, he would find out. Ryoma and Momoshiro looked at each other in question, both simply shrugging at each other.

After a few more moments of Ami speaking with her Mother, she hung up her phone and put it away. "Well, thank you guys for the tour, but I have to get home now."

"Where do you live?" Momoshiro asked.

"Why?"

Eiji grinned at her, "You don't expect us _gentlemen_ to let you walk home by yourself when it's almost dark, do you?"

Ami giggled and answered the previous question, "I live a few blocks away, next to this temple."

"Okay! Off to Akita-chan's house!" Eiji exclaims, leading the way out of the school.

* * *

As the group of five walked on another street, Ryoma noticed how familiar the route they were taking was to him. Momoshiro took notice of the similarities as well as he spoke with Ami about random things.

"How far is your home from here, Akita-chan?"

"It's just that street over there," Ami announced, pointing toward a street coming up on their right.

Momoshiro arched an eyebrow and turned to Ryoma, "Isn't that the street where you live, Echizen?"

The boy merely nodded before Ami started jumping in surprise, "You live there, too, Echizen-san?? Oh! Do you live in that temple then?" Once again, Ryoma simply nodded his head. "Yay! Now I have someone to walk with to school!"

Ten more minutes of walking and talking, the boys found out indeed that the young girl lived next to Ryoma's home. Ami's home was a lovely two-story house with a large backyard. The spaces between each house in the neighborhood was very narrow, nearly enough for someone to go climb in the window in the next house.

The group passed by Ryoma's temple and saw Ami reach a small gate that was connected to the surrounding fence around the house. "Bye guys, thanks for the tour!"

"Bye Ami! See you tomorrow at school!" The boys said as they watched Seigaku's new student run into her home.

Ryoma immediately started toward his home as the other three bid their farewells to each other. "I'm home." He murmured within his home to whoever could hear him. Dropping his bag and taking off his shoes, he sauntered up the stairs and into his bedroom. "Hello Karupin," he greeted to his feline pet who pawed its way toward his master and rubbed his fur against Ryoma's leg affectionately.

The boy took off his jacket and threw it somewhere in the room and proceeded to unbuttoning his shirt when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Sitting on the windowsill next door, right across from his bedroom window was Akita Ami, covering her eyes with her hands. Ryoma stopped his actions and removed his hands from his shirt, a splash of pink appearing upon his cheeks. He climbed onto his bed and opened the window, causing the girl across from him to peek through her tiny fingers. "You're done changing?"

"I haven't changed at all." Ryoma bluntly said. "Why are you sitting there?"

Ami took her hands away from her face and clapped her hands together in excitement, "Because I wanted to say that technically we're roommates!"

Silence.

"We're not sharing a room."

Still smiling an exciting smile, she replied, "No, but our bedrooms are right next to each other! Isn't that great? Now I can talk to you and ask you stuff on the homework and all sorts of stuff!" Ryoma continued to listen with half an ear as the girl continued to babble on and on. A sweat drop was forming at the side of his head as Ami talked animatedly. "We'll be the best of friends, Echizen-san!" As if realizing something, Ami snapped her fingers, "Which reminds me. 'Echizen-san' seems too formal and long for me; how 'bout Echi-san?"

Ryoma felt his eye twitch at the name since the name sounded like the Japanese word for 'pervert.' Putting on an annoyed expression, the prodigy replied bluntly, "No."

"Please, Echi-kun?" Ami gave him the puppy dog eyes with a pouting lip as she had her hands clasped together and held out toward the boy.

Unfazed, the boy said the same reply, "No."

"Aww, so un-fun, _Echizen-san_." Ami let her hands drop down and she looked to the side, quietly whispering to herself, "I still prefer Echi-san."

Ryoma closed his eyes in irritation, "What was that?"

Ami snapped her head back to him and stared at him innocently, "What? What? I don't know what you're talking about."

_**Knock-knock.**_

Before anything more could be said, the two heard someone knocking at Ami's bedroom door.

"Come in!" Ami shouted.

"Ami," Ryoma saw a tall raven haired woman, wearing a lovely dress, enter Ami's bedroom, "they're here."

"Coming Mother," Ami told her mother before turning back to the window and climbing off the windowsill. When she was about to close the window, she quickly introduced Ryoma, "Mother, this is Echizen Ryoma, one of the gentlemen I spoke about earlier; Echizen-san, this is my mother."

The woman flashed a small smile toward the boy and bowed her head, "Pleasure."

Ryoma merely nodded in recognition at the woman. He could have sworn that he saw her smile twitch at the corners of her lips.

"Well, I better be on my way now. I'll see you at school tomorrow, Echizen-san." Ami flashed a grin toward the boy before pulling her window close and turning toward her mother.

Ryoma observed from his window the way Ami's mother seemed to be speaking with her daughter with a scolding finger pointed at the younger girl. Ami merely nodded at times as she continued to listen to her mother. Once her mother had left the room, Ami quickly turned around, waved farewell toward Ryoma and disappearing from view. The boy closed his window and stared at his cat sitting next to him. He petted the feline on the head while getting off his bed and finishing what he started: changing his clothes.

* * *

**Explanations:  
**Okay, the whole ordeal with the 'Echi-kun' thing. For some of you that don't understand this word, if you add another 'c', the word becomes 'Ecchi' which means pervert in Japanese. Also, I know in Japan, instead of the students switching around, it's the teachers; well, not in my fanfic! It's the American way where students change classrooms and for some students, they could choose their classes! So, yeah! In addition to this, for some of you readers that skip the clues part or don't really understand it, the clues section are the things to think about in the future chapters.

**Clues:  
**1) The ring on Ami's finger which she wears because of traditions  
2) Ami cannot fulfill promise between her and Ryoma  
3) Ami's mother and family disapproves of court games, including tennis  
4) Ami's father left her and her mother  
5) Eiji was holding Ami's hand  
6) Ami wants to join the Dance club, is in Band class, and wants to be in the Student Council  
7) Rhythms/Ami loves music  
8) Ami has a few classes with the upperclassmen  
9) Art is one of her electives  
10) Family expectations (demands)  
11) Ami's behavior toward Mother  
12) Ami lives next to Ryoma, bedrooms are right next to each other  
13) Ami's childish nature around Ryoma and the others

I'm sorry for the long wait for this chapter. And, it did say hiatus awhile ago, but I removed it. But I must warn you, I will updating slowly then I usually did. This is because it's almost the end of the school year and my school is piling all of sorts stuff upon us poor students. So, please forgive the gaps in between chapters. Continue voting! Once Chapter 3 is out, the polls are over! The poll results, so far, is a tie between Fuji and Ryoma. Remember, I count votes from both the polls and on reviews - so keep voting!


	3. A New Student

**Summary:** A new bouncy girl has joined the massive students of Seishun Gakuen seems she has met Ryoma before - but he barely remembers her! How will this affect their relationship with each other? Will this effect the girl? What's this? She has quit tennis? She was the Princess of Tennis, though! It looks like she has lost her tennis rhythm.

**Genres:** Romance/Friendship/Family/Suspence/Drama

**Notes:** The poll for this story is OVER! And the winner? DRUM ROLL PLEASE! *random drum roll* It's ... ECHIZEN RYOMA. xD Sorry Fuji and Eiji lovers. There will be hints to these two pairings, but the main one is RyomaxOC. Yay, Ryoma-sama! :P Thank you all for voting on the poll and voting on the reviews! Sorry for such a late update! I lost all my previous files when my friend accidentally put a virus on my computer, so all my future updates are having to be re-written and I forgot how I wrote them! T_T Don't blame me! I'm not perfect nor do I have photographic memory, even though I wish I did. My updates will come slower - I apologize in advance. Also, this chapter may seem boring.. but it's very ... it's full of ... well it's an important chapter!

**Warnings:** I am not that well in the field of writing fanfiction, so I still have trouble having the characters stay in character. Forgive me if it ever happens, but whatever I write, they need to be done so it can fit the story!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Prince of Tennis (Tennis no Ojisama) or any of its characters - all belong to Takeshi Konomi.

**Claimer:** I own Tennis Rhythm and its plot, also its characters that are not in the original Prince of Tennis (ex. Akita Ami). [I made up the teachers' names because I don't know what they were, but technically, they also belong to Takeshi Konomi.]

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**Tennis Rhythm  
**_**Chapter Three  
**_**The New Student**

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"Remember Ami, the Satou family will be here tomorrow and I want you to do well in school. Make sure you're presentable; I'll have an outfit for you ready."

Ami nodded her head at her mother, a perpetual smile revealed as she listened to all her mother's instructions. "What kind of outfit would I be wearing for their arrival?"

"Formal attire, of course." The elder woman turned around in her heels, another woman behind her carrying a clipboard tensed up at the sudden attention, "Make a call to the retail shop; leave a message for Uwari-san, saying we're coming tomorrow for the fitting."

"Hai."

At that point, a tall, burly man walked through the hallway, passing the room the three women were in. "Ah! You!" The man came back - he was wearing a simple white T-shirt, jeans, and carrying a mattress with another burly man helping, "How the preparations for the Satou family coming along? Any trouble?"

"None to report, Akita-san."

"Good; you may proceed."

"Hai."

Checking her watch, Ami called for her mother's attention, "Mother, I'm assuming the limo is here now. Shall we go? We'll be late otherwise."

"We're still on schedule. Get your stuff ready, I'll be downstairs talking to Chef Morimoto."

"Hai, Mother," Ami bowed as her mother and assistant left her room.

She looked at her wrist, the expensive diamond watch glistening under her room light.

**7:45AM.**

Emerald eyes stared out the bedroom window, curtains pulled away to allow the morning Autumn sunlight to come through. The room across from her window was already empty, the bed already made, and the room dark. Not even the small creature that lurked within it wasn't crawling through the bed sheets.

"Echizen-san must've already left for school…" The girl pouted out the window as she grabbed her school bag, "And I was going to offer a ride, too."

"Akita-san."

Ami turned at the voice, finding an elderly man with gray hair and a black suit appear at the doorway, "Hai?"

"Your limo has arrived; are you ready for your first day of school?"

The young lady smiled at her trusted butler, "As ready as I'll ever be, Satoshi."

Ami followed the man down the flight of stairs, already hearing her mother bark out orders at the maids, butlers, and chefs.

"I want this place absolute spotless when Tanaka-sama comes. Morimoto-san!"

"Hai!" In an instant, a lean black-haired man with a tall chef hat stood in front of Ami's mother, his attention completely focused on what she had to say.

"Make sure you don't make any dishes with squid - Tanaka-sama is allergic."

"Hai."

"Nor broccoli and pork - Mio-san is allergic and hates pork."

"Hai."

"Make carbonara though, with shrimps - that's Hideki-san's favorite dish."

"Hai."

"Ami!" She yelled throughout the house.

Ami was already standing behind her mother at the call, almost having to cover an ear just to muffle her mother's yell, "I'm right here, Mother."

The raven-haired woman quickly turned - one could see how stressed she was. She gave one long sigh to her daughter before pushing her out the door, "So much to do, and so little time."

* * *

"Alright everyone! We have a new student joining our class," the first-year English teacher beckoned the student to step forward, "please everyone, welcome her. This is her first time in Japan."

"Hello everyone! My name is Akita Ami, pleased to meet everyone."

All the students stood up at once, "Welcome to Seigaku!"

Ami grinned at the greeting before continuing as they all sat back down, "Like Nakamura-sensei said, this is my first time in Japan. I originally lived in America before my mother and I decided to live in Japan, due to certain circumstances. I hope to be a friend to you all and hope you will all, in return, help me through my school year."

"Well said," the teacher encouraged, patting the female student on the back. "There's two empty seats now, since the last girl transferred to a private school. Where would you like to sit?"

Ami scanned the room: an available seat in front of Echizen Ryoma and another next to the window in the third row.

Which to choose?

Sitting next the boy who she lived next to, or sitting next to the window with a view?

"The window seat, please."

"Alright then; who would like to guide Ami throughout her classes?"

A handful of hands went in the air, all belonging to the male population of the class.

Ami sweat dropped at the turnout and waved a dismissing hand in the air, "That won't be necessary, sensei. I've already been given a tour yesterday - I think I can find my way through my classes."

All the hands dropped disappointingly, and as she took her seat, Ami waved a quick hello to the indifferent Ryoma who sat there staring at her. She stuck out her tongue at him when he didn't respond to her wave and took her seat. Immediately, a handful of students in the class raised an eyebrow at the exchange and stared at the new girl, finding out she found the outside surroundings more interesting.

"Okay everyone, who didn't do last night's homework?"

Ami's hand shot up in the air.

The teacher laughed at her.

"Don't worry, Akita-san. You can present it tomorrow. The assignment was to write a short story, maximum of three pages, and you will present it in class. The students will then critique, praise, comment on whatever they feel lacks in your story. It can be fictional, a memory, anything at all."

"Hai."

"So, besides Akita-san, who didn't do the assignment?" A few hands rose up, "You all will come back here for lunch to serve detention." Groans were heard. "Now, let's see. Echizen, will you present your story first?"

* * *

"Akita-san!"

Through the bustle of students, Akita Ami quickly walked through them. She looked straight ahead, finding a certain boy a few yards away from her. Hugging her books to her chest, she hurried along the hallways, not wanting to be late to class when she heard a voice call her.

"Wait! Akita-san!"

Ami swiftly turned around, finding two freshmen girls running up to her. "Hai?"

"My name is Osakada Tomoka, and this is my best friend, Sakuno Ryuzaki. We're in your English class, too."

"Oh, nice to meet you. Sorry, I didn't hear you earlier, I was just in a hurry to get to my next class." The three girls began to walk together through the halls, Ami still having a trained eye on the black-haired boy a ways in front of her. "Did you need anything?"

They were both brunettes, but the one with braided pigtails answered, "No, we just wanted to introduce ourselves. Do you need any help getting to your next class?"

Tomoka bounced excitedly at a new friend, "You have Science next, right?"

Ami shook her head with a smile, "No, I have History, but thanks anyway."

"History?" Tomoka asked herself.

"Yeah; sorry girls, I really need to get going. I have another floor to go up to, so catch you two later!" And with that, Ami began to speed-walk forward, leaving Tomoka and Sakuno to continue walking at their normal paces, a surprised look overtaking their features.

"Isn't History the other way?" Sakuno wondered to herself as they watched their new raven-haired friend walk away.

The two girls continued watching after their new friend, noticing that she had walked in the same pace as another classmate of there's, grinning at him when they finally were in a conversation.

"Isn't that Ryoma-kun?"

"Ryoma-sama? How does she know him?" Tomoka exclaimed, completely surprised at the turn of events.

With Ami, her subject of thought finally was within range as she walked next to him, his other friend on his other side.

"Echi-san!"

Ryoma grunted in response to the name, "I said not to call me by that name."

"Sorry, sorry, just wanted to tease."

"How do you two know each other?"

Ami turned her attention to the three boys walking beside Ryoma; they were all staring at her in wonder and curiosity. One brunette, one short black-haired kid, and the last a slightly taller black-haired boy.

"Ah, we met before in a tennis tournament. I can see his popularity has reached even Japan. My name's Akita Ami, pleased to make your acquaintance."

"My name's Horio Satoshi," the brunette introduced first. Ami noted the tennis bag hanging on his back before he continued with introductions, starting with the shorter boy, "This is Kato Kachiro and Mizuno Katsuo. We're in the tennis club, too, but I have two years of tennis experience!"

"That's… uhm, something," she replied politely, noticing the annoyed look on Ryoma's features.

Saving her from having to compliment the babbling boy, the other boys decided to join introductions, "Akita-san, you said you met Ryoma-kun in a tennis tournament? Are you as good as him?"

"Let's just say, I could've been a match for him," she answered, grinning.

Ryoma snorted at the comment, "If she really had played me."

"Sooorrryyyy, I was having a bad day, remember?" Ami whined, playfully slapping the boy on the arm.

"Hn."

That's when Ami spotted a flight of stairs, "Oh! I'll see you guys later."

The freshmen trio and Ryoma watched as the new girl quickly scattered away toward the stairs, Horio the first to question, "Wait! Where you going? Science is this way!"

"I have History!" She yelled back, walking up the stairs.

Half of Horio's unibrow went up, "But that leads to the second-year classrooms…"

"She has advanced classes." Ryoma answered, continuing to walk at a calm pace.

"How!" The three freshmen exclaimed, catching up with their tennis regular friend.

"Her family."

* * *

"Alright class! Brushes away!"

Canvases, paints, and brushes littered across the room as students grouped together to do the assignment. Students of all ages were held in the elective class, bursting into chatters here and there. The teacher was an eccentric short woman named Sahra, a bun and round spectacles to complete the set.

It was third period of the day and the students were waiting for lunch to happen, which was after morning classes.

Akita Ami. Echizen Ryoma. Eiji Kikumaru. All accounted for, situated next to the window in a line, canvases in front of them and palettes in their hands.

"Eiji-senpai, can you get me the green paint please?"

"Hai~!" Quickly fetching the green paint bottle and passing to Ryoma to give to her, he turned to his favorite freshman, "What are you going to paint, o'chibi?"

"What about you, senpai?" He countered, pondering on his own painting.

The assignment was to paint anything that came to mind, using the techniques that their teacher had taught them for the first half of the school year. But since Akita Ami came to school halfway through the year, she was allowed to paint anything in any style she knew, or didn't know. The option to ask for the techniques by her friends (Ryoma and Eiji) was given to her, but she opted to tough it out on her own. Though she was curious as to what her friends would be painting, brooding over the possibilities of what she should paint.

Eiji scratched his head as he stared at his canvas, "I think I'll make a painting of my bedroom…"

"Eiji-senpai's room? Ehh… That sounds interesting," Ami grinned, pondering over the idea of creating a work of art centered on her bedroom.

An image of her bedroom came to mind.

Plain white walls. Queen sized bed with curtains. A desk with a laptop. A shelf of books. A musical stand. And a closet.

On second thought, it would be too boring to produce for Ami's tastes.

"What about Ami-chan?"

Ami put a hand under her chin in thought, staring hard at her plain, untouched canvas in front of her. She was willing it to make its own creation and call it her own. She _was_ a music person, not an artist.

"Mmm.. I'll think of something, Eiji-senpai. Why don't you get started on yours? I want to get a glimpse into senpai's life," she said, a mischievous glint in her grassy green eyes. "You too, Echizen-san. Whatever you paint will give me a peek into the mind of the Prince of Tennis."

Ryoma ignored the title and merely scoffed at the girl, grabbing his brush and dabbing paint on it.

Why did he take this class again?

Several pondering moments later…

He doesn't remember.

An hour into class and Ryoma was almost done with his painting. It was of Karupin sleeping on his bed. It wasn't that great, but it would get him a decent grade. He turned to his right, finding Eiji talking amongst the other students in the class and commenting on their paintings. All the girls fawned over his painting of his bedroom, having the chance to see Eiji's bedroom, even if it was a simple painting. How the red-head loved the attention. He then turned to his left, when he was suddenly splattered on the cheek with blue paint.

"Ack!" Ryoma exclaimed, rubbing at the paint.

"Ah! Sorry, Echizen-san!" Ami apologized, quickly grabbing a wet paper towel and dry one. "I didn't mean to do that! At least it didn't get on your shirt…"

Ryoma allowed her for a moment to rub at his cheek with the paper towel, cleaning the paint off. She was so guilty for smacking him with paint, her focus on the splatter gave Ryoma the time to really gaze into her green eyes. It had been almost two years when he last saw her - the only thing he remembered about her eyes was the sadness that had once been within them. Now filled with guilt, under it all, was - from what he could tell - a sense of wanting to belong. He was normally not an observant person when it came to that of a girls' heart. He had once rejected Sakuno on a date (even though he didn't know it was a date she was asking), and reflected after Sakuno had run away in tears. But now, he knew with this girl, it would seem easier to read someone from the female populous - she seemed easier to read than most girls, wearing her emotions out on her sleeves.

Ami had finally noticed the boy staring at her with those curious hazel eyes, and she leaned back for a moment to inquire the quiet boy, "What?"

He saw it. She was blushing - from embarrassment?

"Nothing." Was his simple answer. Feeling a tad bit awkward after being in close proximity with him, Ami gave the boy the wet and dry paper towels, allowing the boy to independently clean the stain off his skin.

Once Ryoma had cleaned off the offending smear, he looked to Ami's painting. He raised an eyebrow at it, staring at it for awhile.

"What?"

The black-haired boy tilted his head to one side before pointing at Ami's canvas, "What is it?"

"What's what?" Ami asked, looking to her painting.

"What are you painting?"

The girl laughed, shrugging in the process, "I don't know."

Ami grabbed her brush again, positioning the palette on her other hand, she gripped the paintbrush at the end and stroked across the canvas, leaving trails of paint and splatters of different colors. She slashed up, down, left, right, diagonal, zig-zag, curls, any direction she could twist her brush in.

Ryoma observed from next to her, the way she moved her brush. Her painting was a complete mess of swirls, slashes, strokes, splatters - all in different colors from her palette. There was no real shape to identify within the painting, just looking a giant blob of color. A mass array of rainbow strips that had no path, a labyrinth of shades and tints and dyes. Her movements almost reminded him of certain strokes he does himself after school. He watched, moving this way and that across the canvas. She was enjoying the way the painting was turning out, the way she moved her brush with different colors. She hadn't really noticed the boy next to her staring at her when she finally caught sight of him.

"Hm? Something wrong?"

Having been caught, Ryoma turned back to his own painting. "Not really."

"What'cha painting, Ami-chan?" Eiji asked, popping out from behind Ami's canvas.

"I have no idea," she answered, continuing her strokes.

Eiji thumbed his chin for a moment, staring at her work of art in perplexity, "It's like a color explosion."

Ami giggled, "There's more to something than meets the eye."

* * *

Akita Ami felt like she was having a very successful first school day. She was understanding English with the additional humor due to Ryoma's expertise in the class; she got her first detention in History when she attempted to stop Momoshiro from eating in class, who sat behind her; her painting in Art was castigated by the students but commended by the teacher for being 'absolutely creative'; and she has met a total of nine students within the last two days. Now, she was off to Geometry - Eiji leading the way up the stairs.

"Good luck in Geometry, Ami-chan; Sasabe-sensei tends to make mistakes in his lessons. But I think Tezuka and Oishi are in your class, so you should be fine," Eiji informed the much shorter girl. "I think Fuji and Kawamura are there, too."

"Who's Tezuka, Oishi and Kawamura?"

"They're going to be your senpais!" Eiji exclaimed excitedly, "Oh, this is my class; I'll see you later, Ami-chan! Your classroom is just up ahead - you can't miss it."

"Thank you very much, Eiji-senpai!" Ami said, bowing to the said bow as he entered his class.

"Good luck!"

Ami smiled at her new red-headed senpai. He was so nice.

When she turned around to head in the direction Eiji had pointed to earlier, she had somehow bumped into someone, causing her to fall over and drop her books.

"Ah, sorry, Akita-san." When Ami looked up to the tall person, she smiled and took the hand that was offered to her, "I'm not used to seeing a person your size walking on this floor."

Ami stuck her tongue out at him, "I need to get used to being surrounded by tall boys."

Fuji chuckled, "Saa. You are the height I was at the age of four."

He received a punch at that moment. "Now, I am insulted, senpai."

"You dropped your books…"

"Oh! Thank you!" Ami exclaimed, taking the books from the timid boy. He was very tall, much taller than Fuji, and Fuji was already tall to begin with. Ami wanted to mentally cry at her height when she got a good look at Fuji's friend. He seemed so shy and quiet, but nice under that shy exterior. "Let me guess: you're in the tennis club, too?"

The boy chuckled, "How'd you know?"

Ami giggled, "Just a guess."

"Kawamura," Fuji called, "this is Akita Ami, first year. This is Kawamura Takashi, Akita-san; he's in our Geometry class and plays doubles Tennis with me occasionally."

Ami immediately bowed to the taller brunette, "Nice to meet you, senpai. Please help me in school."

"Ah, sure, no problem. But, why is a first year in our Geometry class?"

"Let's get to class first and I'll explain; I don't want to be late to class on my first day," Ami suggested, having the two boys lead her to the classroom of Geometry. There were many female and male students, all about the same height as Fuji and much taller than Ami. Whispers immediately erupted when she appeared from behind Fuji as he and Kawamura walked in and took their seats. She approached the even more timid-than-Kawamura Geometry teacher and handed him a note with her description and reason, waiting for him to nod and allow her to take her seat anywhere it was available.

"Akita-san, the seat in front of me is available."

"Ah, perfect!" Ami approved, bowing to her teacher in gratitude before taking the front seat before Fuji. "Now that I'm in the front, I don't have to look around tall people's backs."

"I thought it would help you," Fuji grinned. The brunette watched as Ami sat in her seat, leaving her book bag on the floor and placing her textbooks at the corner of her desk, neatly and in line. She opened one of the books, for Geometry, turning to the page that the lesson was about on the board, and took out a graph notebook. Her pencils, pens, highlights, all aligned on the desk, and ready to go. His smile widened at the girl: she was _very_ organized. "Ah, Tezuka, Oishi. We have a new student joining our class."

As she finished setting up her materials for the third-year class, she turned to Fuji's attention and saw another tall brunette enter the classroom, glasses and a stern facial expression, taking the seat next to hers. A black-haired boy followed soon after, taking the seat behind him - a more friendlier face was notable on him.

"Hello senpais," Ami greeted, waving to them. "My name is Akita Ami, first year. Please guide me through my school year."

"You're a first year? How'd that happen?" Oishi asked the girl, "Is that even possible?"

"I'm here, aren't I?" Ami replied, grinning widely at them. She looked to the brunette with glasses, noticing that he was staring her with confusion, contemplating over the rules of the school. "My family specifically told the Principal to give me certain classes for my education."

"May I see your timetable, Akita-san?" Tezuka asked, almost the instant she finished talking. She blinked for a moment, stunned at his serious tone before reaching in her bag and taking out her timetable.

While Tezuka was looking it over, Oishi greeted the girl properly, "Well Akita-san, my name is Shuichiro. If you need anything, feel free to ask."

"I'll be doing a lot of that, so please help me," she answered with a bright smile, her bouncy nature rubbing off on the boys around her. Looking to her right, finding Tezuka done with studying her timetable, "Senpai, is there something wrong with my timetable?"

Tezuka shook his head, handing the piece of paper back, he began to introduce himself. "Tezuka Kunimitsu; I'm the Student Council President, and Oishi is Vice President. If you need any help, you can ask me or Oishi." The two stared at each other for a long while. The brunette wearing glasses stared at the girl for awhile, her smiling back at him.

"Eh? You're the Student Council President? When do you have meetings?"

"Every Wednesday during lunch."

"I have a proposal; am I allowed to join the meeting?"

Fuji smiled - he remembered.

"Sure," Oishi answered this time, "any student is allowed to come in and watch. Any proposals that a student has will be considered at the end of the meeting."

"I'll be sure to remember that," Ami answered back, winking at the Vice President.

"A-Alright, everyone…" The timid math teacher announced, taking his role as teacher as the front of the classroom. "Please turn to Page 167. We will be learning about-"

"Sensei!" Tezuka exclaimed.

"H-hai, Tezuka-kun!"

"We have a new student. I think it would be proper to introduce her to the class."

Ami let out soft chuckles, allowing the absolutely timorous teacher introduce her to the class. A sweat drop slowly rolled down the side of her face as she saw all her new friends smiling wide at her either in amusement or encouragement, all she could do was bow to the class with whispering and gossiping students.

_Here we go again._

_

* * *

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**Explanations:**  
I'm seriously trying not be cliche in my story; I'm trying to avoid moments of long eye-gazing between Ryoma and Ami, but it's extremely hard when I'm trying to simply be subtle. Please give me credit for not adding "they felt something spark between them, but they simply ignored the feeling" even though I seriously wanted to add it for fun. I did skip second period, if you have noticed. The first version I wrote for this chapter, I had inputed it to give more information for future chapters, but my brother (who I normally consult for fanfictions) suggested I leave it for later on so it's more emphasized. So, there is a small time skip from first to third period. Sorry, if that confused anyone. Also, I don't know how student council meetings are really held in Japan, so bear with my version.

**Clues:**  
1) Satou Family - Mother frazzled by their visit in the future  
2) Chef Morimoto and the Butler, Satoshi  
3) Ami's proposal to the Student Council President  
4) The long gaze between Ami and Ryoma before she pulled away  
5) The long eye contact shared between Tezuka and Ami  
6) Tomoka and Sakuno surprised at Ami's close interaction with Ryoma  
7) The short story Ami has to write for English  
8) Ami's strokes in painting  
9) Ami's contrasting behaviors at home and in school

Sorry again for such a late update. I will try my best to update as soon as I can, but don't count on a speedy story. I'm still figuring out how it will out lay out, but I love the ideas that are popping within my head. I hope I will still have faithful readers and reviewers, but even if I don't, I will continue to write. I hope to write a great fanfiction for Ryoma.


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